Weight measuring and center of gravity locating apparatus



1966 LA VERNE F. WALLACE WEIGHT MEASURING AND CENTER OF GRAVITY LOGATING APPARATUS Original Filed Feb. 11, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

A f." l l w/ace 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 LA VERNE F. WALLACE WEIGHT MEASURING AND CENTER OF GRAVITY LOCATING APPARATUS Dec. 13, 1966 Original Filed Feb. 11

1966 LA VERNE F. WALLACE 3,

WEIGHT MEASURING AND CENTER OF GRAVITY LOGATING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed Feb. 11, 1963 Dec 13, 1966 LA VERNE F. WALLACE 3,Z9U992 WEIGHT MEASURING AND CENTER OF GRAVITY LOCATING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed Feb. 11, 1963 INVENTOR.

L .fiWaV/a c e BY@A% ML, M214 4* filter/1 1966 LA VERNE F. WALLACE 3,290,925

WEIGHT MEASURING AND CENTER OF GRAVITY LOCATING APPARATUS Original Filed Feb. 11, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. L/Tfi aj/ace sw s Attorneys United States Patent 3,290,925 WEIGHT MEASUIRENG AND CENTER OF GRAVBTY LOQATING APPARATUS La Verne F. Wallace, Marion, Mass, assignor to ELH Electronics, Inc, Waltham, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Original application Feb. 11, 1963, der. No. 257,522, now Patent No. 3,246,506, dated Apr. 19, 1966. Divided and this application Sept. 7, 1965, Ser. No. 485,163

3 Claims. (Cl. 7365) This is a division of application Serial No. 257,522, filed February 11, 1963.

This invention relates generally to a weighing and. center of gravity locating device of the type employing load responsive means, preferably electrical strain gage load cells.

In measuring devices of this general type, the weight is measured by the mv./v. (millivolt per volt) output of one load cell and the center of gravity is measured by taking the quotient of two similar cell outputs. Various types of such systems have been heretofore used, but they have had certain functional or structural limitations, particularly in connection with handling a variety of weights and configurations.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved system for measuring weight and center of gravity location whose errors are substantially independent of weight and center of gravity location of the object being tested.

A further object is to provide such an improved system that is relatively simple, considering its complexity of interrelated functions, and has a high degree of accuracy and sensitivity combined with relative ease of operation and ruggedness.

It is customary in measuring the center of gravity of a specimen, which may be any of one of many types of structures, to utilize a platform supported in a simple manner by three or four compression type load measuring cells. If the load cells are spaced apart a great distance with respect to the expected eccentricity, poor center of gravity sensitivity is the result. If the same cells are placed relatively close together it has been found that errors are caused by the whole platform tipping when one cell sees more load than another due to the normal cell deflections. To avoid these problems it has heretofore been suggested to place a single compression cell at the center of the specimen platform and to place two tension-compression load cells, of lower capacity, displaced from the center and at 90 to each other, thus accomplishing what is considered to be good determination of the center of gravity, as well as limiting tipping errors. One complexity resulting from this arrangement required the three reactions to be added to get the specimen weight.

A further evolution in this type of equipment was to place the lower capacity cells in a horizontal attitude and displace them vertically from a set of stay rods. In this particular configuration errors arose due to the in ternal deflections of the load cell assembly and stay rods.

In my improved arrangements I employ a combination of elements including a single weight responsive load cell in tension, thereby eliminating the majority of the errors caused by internal misalignment.

Other objects and advantages will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of my improved apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the pivot block of a floating table of my apparatus;

FIG. 4 is an end View of FIGS. 1 and 2 looking toward the left at the right hand end thereof;

FIG. 5 is a two dimensional schematic force diagram of my apparatus shown in association with a specimen having an eccentric center of gravity;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of my apparatus with its stabilizing flexure assemblies and with the force measuring struts for determing both the weight of a specimen and the extent of eccentricity of the center of gravity of the specimen;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of a modified arrangement of the force measuring means in my apparatus;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged partially sectional view of one of the force measuring flexure assemblies; and

FIG. 9 is a diagram similar to FIG. 5 but shown in a grossly distorted loaded condition to clearly illustrate the principles .involved, the specimen being a part of this figure.

The preferred embodiment of my improved apparatus comprises a stationary base structure including a triangular arrangement, FIG. 1, of horizontal structural members, preferably I-beams, 1, 2 and 3 suitably secured together as by welding. Base frame columns 4, 5 and 6, FIG. 2, welded to the vertices of the base triangle, carry at their top a spider frame consisting of three structural members, preferably I-beams 7, 8 and 9. The outer ends of these I-beams are bolted or otherwise suitably connected to plates 10 which are bolted to the columns. The inner ends of the spider beams are joined together at the center by upper and lower plates 11 and 12.

Mounted upon the stationary base structure is a floating table frame generally indicated at 15. This frame includes a series of members, preferably steel pipes, 16, 17, IS, 19, 2t and 21. The ends of member 21 are connected, preferably by welding, to the outside frame members 16, 17, I8 and 20, while the outer ends of the members 16 and 17 are welded to a larger diagonally extended pipe 22. One of the ends of members 19 and 20 are connected to another diagonal pipe member 23, and similarly pipes 18 and 19 are connected to a diagonal pipe member 2 1. These three diagonal members converge and are welded to a pivot block 25, FIG. 3, of the floating frame. This frame is supported by a combination of three force measuring strut asemblies and three stay rods. The force measuring struts are longitudinal as at 23, vertical as at 29, and lateral as at 30, FIG. 4. The axes of these three struts preferably converge at a common point 31 in the block structure 25. More specifically, the longitudinal strut asembly 23 includes a short fiexure element 32 preferably threadedly connected at one end to a flange of block 25 while the other end is threaded to one end of a load cell 33. This load cell, as well as the other two to be described, can be any suitable type of force measuring transducer but for purpose of illustration it is preferably of the electrical load responsive type such as shown for example in Patent No. 2,561,318. The other end of this load cell is threadedly connected to a rigid section 34 of a long flexure assembly having a flexure portion 35 secured to a mounting flange 36. This flange is supported against a suitable mounting bracket 37 secured to an I-beam 38 which extends out from and is an integral part of I-beam 1 of the triangular base. The lateral force measuring strut 30, FIG. 4 is identical in every respect to strut 28 both in construction and the manner of being connected to the block 25 and to the triangular base. The same reference numbers are, therefore, used for similar parts. The vertical weight measuring strut 29, FIGS. 2 and 4, is also constructed similarly to strut 28 except that it is somewhat longer. It has a long flexure portion 35 conu: nected to the block 25 and its short flexure element 32' connected to a mounting flange 36 which is made a part of the base frame as by being bolted to the lower gusset plate 12 ofthe spider frame 7, 8 and 9. By having the long flexure portion 35' connected to the block 25, it is possible to locate the vertical load cell 39 in the upperarea of the floating frame where there is ample room for access.

The stay rods consist, FIG. 1, of two lateral members 40 and 41 and a longitudinal member 42. The member 40 has its flexure section 42' connected to a mounting flange 43 which is bolted to the member 18 of the floating frame, while the flexure section 44 has a mounting flange 45 bolted to a vertical bracket 46 extending upwardly from the plate 10. The stay rod 41 is similarly connected to the floating frame and base frame and hence carry the same reference numbers. The longitudinal stay rod 42 has a mounting flange 48 connected to the member 19 of the floating frame while its other end is connected to a mounting flange 51 which in turn is connected to an I-beam 49 extending outwardly from the gusset plates 11 and 12 by virtue of a vertical bracket plate 50. These stay rods perform the functions of imparting two-directional lateral stability to the table and stability against rotation of the table about its normally vertical axis.

Because the floating frame 15 has an extended portion 16, 17 and 22 there is a certain degree of unbalance of the floating frame about the center reference point 31. To prevent this unbalance from producing a tare load in the small horizontal load cell 33, I provide a counterbalance weight 54 supported by elements 55, 56 and 57. Element 56 is connected to block 25 while element 55 is attached to strut 24, and element 57 is attached to strut 23 near its upper end.

As is well known in center of gravity measuring devices, it is necessary to have very precise reference points with respect to the normally vertical measuring axis which passes through point 31. In my improved apparatus these points are vertical holes 59 and 60 formed in pads 61 and 62 which are secured as by welding to the upper ends of struts 23 and 24. A supporting pad 63 is mounted on the outer end of strut 22. This pad does not enter into the precise location of the article or specimen whose center of gravity is to be determined. A suitable work table 64, FIGS. 2 and 4 (but removed from FIG. 1) is mounted on the floating frame as by having openings large enough through which the pads 61, 62 and 63 may extend. It should be understood, however, that the specimen or article whose center of gravity is to be determined is not supported on this table but rather is supported on the pads 61-63. No tools, etc. would be left on the work table 64 during the measuring operation.

It should be mentioned that the two horizontal load cells 33, 33 are responsive either to tension or compression forces, while the load cell 39 is responsive only to tension forces arising from the specimen Weight. The stay rods 40, 41 and 42, will resist either tension or compression forces tending to unstabilize the floating frame.

To calibrate this apparatus a suitable fixture may be mounted on the pads 61, 62 and 63 precisely positioned between holes 59 and 60. Weights can then be precisely placed in desired positions on the fixture.

The operation of this apparatus is diagrammatically illustrated in FIGS. and 9. A specimen 65 is positioned in the holes 59 and 60 which are located equal distances from an axis 67 that is normally vertical when the frame is in its untilted position, said axis passing through the reference point 31. The specimen is assumed to have a center of gravity at a point indicated by the well-known center of gravity symbol 66. This center of gravity is a distance e from the geometrical center of the specimen and it is this distance which is to be measured. The weight W is represented in load cell 39 by F and the eccentricity e of this weight is resisted in the flexure members 40 and 41 as represented by the force F The eccentric force is measured in load cell 33 of the measuring strut 30. The eccentricity e causes an overturning moment which is restrained by equal and opposite force F and F in said latter load cell 33 and stay rods 40 and 41 respectively. Inasmuch as the purpose of this apparatus is to determine the value of eccentricity 2 it will be understood that the following equation would L zthe vertical distance between a horizontal plane commonly containing the axes of the horizontal stay rods 40, 41 and 42, and a parallel plane commonly containing the axes of horizontal load cell struts 28 and 30.

From the foregoing disclosure it is seen that I have provided a very effective weighing and center of gravity locating device that is extremely rugged, that is relatively economical to manufacture for a piece of equipment of this scientific type, and that has a high degree of sensitivity and accuracy combined with ease of operation and maintenance. Also, it is possible to readily change the capacity of the apparatus merely by substituting load cells in the strut asemblies of other capacities. The apparatus may be readily aligned with great precision during its calibration by reason of the threaded ends of these load cell and stay rod assemblies having (FIG. 8) right and left hand threads 70 and 71 respectively so that by merely rotating any individual assembly, it is possible to shift the floating frame to its precise position. Lock nuts 72 can then be tightened on each of the threaded members. The mounting flanges such as 36, etc., for the various load cell struts and stay rod assemblies can be shifted radially with respect to their axis by reason of having large clearance holes through which mounting studs such as 73 pass. Thus, I am able to provide lengthwise adjustments of the strut assemblies and lateral adjustment of their axes and still insure that all of these adjustments will maintain a fixed relation of the various axes to the preferred reference point 31.

In the modification of FIG. 7, the floating frame is supported by a vertical weight measuring load cell flexure assembly 81 and vertical center of gravity load cell flexure assemblies 82 and 83, all fixed at one of their ends to a stationary frame diagrammatically indicated at 84. Lateral stabilizing flexures 85 and 86 and a longitudinal flexure 87 guides the floating frame during the extremely minute deformation of the load cells.

A specimen being tested in FIG. 7 would be placed in a holding fixture which in turn would be placed on the top surface of floating table. The holding fixture would be accurately positioned by use of dowel pins in the fixture and dowel pin holes in the floating table as previously described in the preferred form of my invention. The center of gravity of a specimen would be first reasonably estimated by the eye of an operator or roughly calculated, for safety of the apparatus, and this center would be positioned directly over the weight cell 81 when the specimen is installed in the holding fixture on the floating table. As the actual center of gravity of the specimen may deviate from the estimated center a misalignment of the specimen weight vector and the weight cell force occurs. This misalignment would then result in an overturning moment equal to the product of the specimen weight (W) and the center of gravity eccentricity (e). The specimen center of gravity eccentricity can be resolved into two components e and e The resulting overturning moments (We and We are restrained by forces in the two center of gravity measuring d) cells 82 and 83. The forces in the center of gravity cells can be expressed as follows:

We F, L

where L is the horizontal dimension between the weight cell 81 and the center of gravity cell 82. Similarly x W'e In both modifications I have used the same techniques of eliminating the effects of two major errors which exist in a reaction measuring system of this nature. The technique is shown as follows:

FIG. shows the force measuring system in two dimensions only with the system in its unloaded condition in which everything is in a neutral state and therefore in perfect alignment, i.e. the horizontal surface of the table at right angles to a vertical line which is the line of. gravity.

In considering the first major error, it will be understood that as the system becomes loaded with the eccentric position of the center of gravity of the specimen there are deflections in the flexure stay rods and in the horizontal center of gravity cell strut which causes the floating table to become misaligned (tilted) thus causing errors as shown in FIG. 9. In an actual case the vertical and inclined axes of the floating table frame need not intersect at the ground supporting point of the vertical force measuring means 29 as shown in FIG. 9. This is not an important design criteria. This tilting is so extremely small as to be almost infinitesimal and therefore the cosine of the tilting angles can be assumed to be I. Once the misalignment (tilting) occurs the specimen center of gravity is moved to a still further degree of eccentricity 93, FIG. 9 and consequently additional force is present in the center of gravity cell. This further degree of movement shall be designated as a misalignment error about the point of intersection between the vertical and inclined axes of the table, and can be calculated by the following equation:

Qj-L Misahgnrnent error We{ L12K2 The foregoing is a compression error in the center of gravity cell 33 of the force measuring strut 30 in FIG. 9.

The second major error occurs at the same time the floating table is being misaligned because the weight cell strut 29 is also being misaligned as shown in FIG. 9. The weight cell lateral misalignment 92, FIG. 9 causes a horizontal component of force W which is important to the center of gravity cell 33 of strut 30. This force is shown in the following equation:

We X W l V =m=Horizontal component of weight force W =Horizontal component of the weight cell strut force L =The length of the weight cell strut, i.e. the distance between the centers of the flexure positions 32 and 35 6 If we insert this horizontal component force into the CG. equation, the CG. error caused. by this force may be calculated.

W L W eL CG. @1101 I 2 2 We C.G.eno1- The foregoing is a tension error.

The tension error and compression. error are equated below in Equation 1. The common factor We has been cancelled from Equation 1 thus leaving Equation 2 which describes the geometry of the system in which the two major errors cancel.

Equation (1) Lax, L K,

E quation (2) With reference to FIG. 5, my device has a normally vertical axis defined by 29, 39, etc. in the normal position when e=0 both in the plane of the paper and at right angles thereto. I define the ecentric moment of the specimen to be the product We where e is the eccentricity of the center of gravity of W relative to the normally vertical axis. If there is also eccentricity in the vertical plane normal to the paper there will be a similar ecentric moment in that plane. Responsive means 33 of link 23 measures We in the plane of the paper, while a similar element 33 of link 30, FIG. 6 at right angles to the paper measures the eccentric moment in the other plane the total eccentric moment is of course (see FIG. 7) where e and e are the eccentricities in the two normal vertical planes.

Now since there are small but measurable strains produced in such members as 40, 3tl, 33 when 210, it will be seen that the normally vertical axis of 39 will be tilted whenever any eccentricity exists. In prior art devices this inevitable tilting gave rise to errors in the measurement of We due to the resultant non-linearity of the system. That is, a large W and small e would not give the same reading as a small W and large e even though WE was the same.

The devices shown in FIGS. 5 and 7 as examples of my invention are so devised that this prior art problem is solved in a unique manner. Again referring to FIG, 5 for simplicity, the weight W will cause the table 15 to tilt counter-clockwise and similarly 29, 39 will also be tilted counter-clockwise. This is shown very much exaggerated in FIG. 9. Since I have placed 29, 39 in tension, the result of such tilting will be to produce a leftward acting horizontal component of force at the bottom of the frame. It is seen that this component tends to resist the tilting action and therefore reduces the force that 33 would otherwise have to carry. 1 have discovered and proved by actual tests that it is possible to so select the dimensions and other design parameters that the force measured by 33 will be directly a measure of We substantially independent of the relative magnitude of W and e. Furthermore the force measured by 33 in my invention is substantially the same as the force that would exist in 33 of FIG. 5 if the elements 40, 33, 30 were so rigid axially as to allow no tilting whatever.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

7 What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Apparatus for determining the weight and center of gravity of a specimen comprising, in combination,

A. a substantially rigid fioating frame having a table,

with a normally vertical axis, for supporting the specimen the weight of which produces (l) a vertical weight force component along the normally vertical axis, (2) the specimen, when supported on the table with its center of gravity eccentrically located with respect to said normally vertical axis, producing (l) eccentric moment components of force which tilt the table so that its said normally vertical axis is inclined to the normally vertical axis of the untilted table,

(2) the tilting of the table thereby producing an additional eccentricity of the center of gravity with respect to said normally vertical axis of the untilted table,

B. a base,

C. tension force weight responsive means supported by said base and (l) supporting said frame on said base in tension in direction of said normally vertical axis and (2) allowing the table to tilt so that its normally vertically axis becomes inclined in response to a component of force arising from the eccentric center of gravity of the specimen,

(a) said tilting of the table causing the tension force responsive means to produce a horizontal component of force acting on said frame to partially resist the horizontal components of force which create said tilt- D. a plurality of horizontally setting stay means operatively connected to said frame and said base to provide two-directional lateral stability to the table 8 and stability against rotation of the table about said normally vertical axis,

E. and a plurality of eccentric moment measuring means disposed substantially vertically and operatively connected to said frame and said base and being responsive to and opposing the remaining portion of components of force tending to tilt the table,

F. whereby if the center of gravity of the specimen is so located as to produce said tilting action the said components of force of the tension force responsive means tending to resist said tilting is of such magnitude and direction as to cause said remaining components of force to be substantially the same as if no tilting action existed, thereby making the sensitivity of said eccentric moment measuring means substantially independent of the tilting of said table so that the actual eccentricity of the specimen can be determined.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that the plurality of vertically-disopsed eccentric moment measuring means are displaced laterally in different directions from the vertically extending tension force weight responsive means whereby the weight of the specimen is measured by the sum of the forces in the tension force responsive means and in the plurality of eccentric moment measuring means.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that the plurality of vertically-disposed eccentric moment responsive measuring means are laterally displaced from the tension force responsive means and respectively lie in planes that intersect the vertical axis of the tension force responsive means, said planes being substantially at right angles to each other, whereby the weight of the specimen is measured by the sum of the tension force responsive means and the plurality of eccentric moment measuring means.

No references cited.

RICHARD C. QUEISSER, Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE WEIGHT AND CENTER OF GRAVITY OF A SPECIMEN COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A. A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID FLOATING FRAME HAVING A TABLE, WITH A NORMALLY VERTICAL AXIS, FOR SUPPORTING THE SPECIMEN THE WEIGHT OF WHICH PRODUCES (1) A VERTICAL WEIGHT FORCE COMPONENT ALONG THE NORMALLY VERTICAL AXIS, (2) THE SPECIMEN, WHEN SUPPORTED ON THE TABLE WITH ITS CENTER OF GRAVITY ECCENTRICALLY LOCATED WITH RESPECT TO SAID NORMALLY VERTICAL AXIS, PORDUCING (1) ECCENTRIC MOMENT COMPONENT OF FORCE WHICH TILT THE TABLE SO THAT ITS SAID NORMALLY VERTICAL AXIS IS INCLINED TO THE NORMALLY VERTICAL AXIS OF THE UNTILTED TABLE, (2) THE TILTING OF THE TABLE THEREBY PRODUCING AN ADDITIONAL ECCENTRICITY OF THE CENTER OF GRAVITY WITH RESPECT TO SAID NORMALLY VERTICAL AXIS OF THE UNTILTED TABLE, B. A BASE, C. TENSION FORCE WEIGHT RESPONSIVE MEANS SUPPORTED BY SAID BASE AND (1) SUPPORTING SAID FRAME ON SAID BASE IN TENSION IN DIRECTION OF SAID NORMALLY VERTICAL AXIS AND (2) ALLOWING THE TABLE TO TILT SO THAT ITS NORMALLY VERTICALLY AXIS BECOMES INCLINED IN RESPONSE TO A COMPONENT OF FORCE ARISING FROM THE ECCENTRIC CENTER OF GRAVITY OF THE SPECIMEN, (A) SAID TILTING OF THE TABLE CAUSING THE TENSION FORCE RESPONSIVE MEANS TO PRODUCE A HORIZONTAL COMPONENT OF FORCE ACTING ON SAID FRAME TO PARTIALLY RESIST THE HORIZONTAL 